Quicksilver Port Douglas Dive Centre

Quicksilver Connections, operator of reef tours from Port Douglas, sought approval for a new home for its dive school, dive shop and local office on a vacant corner lot at Warner and Grant Street. The Site sits in the commercial heart of Port Douglas, among tour operators, shops and tourist accommodation.

The development is a two-storey building of about 9.8 metres with 629 square metres of gross floor area. It includes a street-front dive and snorkel shop, a workshop and tank-filling area, three training rooms, a first-floor training pool under a retractable roof, and offices and a boardroom for Quicksilver’s Port Douglas staff.

The challenge

• Car parking: the site could not fit the full on-site parking the planning scheme called for, so the shortfall needed a case built on new on-street spaces and how the centre would actually be used.
• Flood levels: the land sits between about RL 1.9 and 2.2 metres AHD, so the floor had to be raised without cutting the building from the footpath.
• Streetscape: on a key tourist-centre corner, the building, awnings and footpaths had to suit the village character of Port Douglas and work at pedestrian scale.
• Frontage works: road widenings, drainage and service relocations were needed along both streets, next to an established tree on the corner.

Our role

• Worked with Quicksilver and CA Architects through the preliminary design phase.
• Held a pre-lodgement meeting with Council, followed by further correspondence on car parking and how floor area would be measured.
• Prepared and lodged the planning report and application for a Material Change of Use.
• Made a performance-based case for the car parking, floor levels, frontage works and streetscape design.
• Managed the application through to Council’s decision.

What was approved

• A two-storey dive centre with 629 square metres of gross floor area, including a retail shop, training rooms, a training pool, a workshop and offices.
• Ground floor level at RL 1.3 metres AHD, with raised walkways and stairs linking it to the street.
• 13 on-site car spaces, including on accessible space, plus four new on-street spaces in Warner Street.
• A new vehicle access from Grant Street.
• Upgrades to both street frontages, including road widening, kerb and channel and underground drainage in Warner Street.
• Shade awnings, planter boxes and tropical street planting, with the existing corner tree retained.